New Members Round Table

NMRT Meeting Minutes

April 30, 2013

Omaha Public Library, Saddlecreek Branch, Omaha, NE

 Present: Bethany Grabow, Lindsey Bray, Aimee Owen, Matt Kovar, Jake Rundle, Amy Wenzl

 Call to Order: Bethany Grabow, 3:45 p.m.

 Chair Report (Bethany):

• Bethany attended the April 19^th NLA meeting via Webinar. 
• The NLA will provide a sponsorship to the ASRL library conference to take place in Omaha.
• The NLA is working on rebranding.  A new logo and branding strategy will hopefully be in place by this fall.  They are considering new merchandise through CafePress. 
• The new website may have library-related ads.
• The Nebraska Libraries newsletter needs articles; we need to submit something.
• Lindsey suggested a “Tips & Tricks for Attending Your First NLA Fall Conference” article. 
• If you’d like to submit an article, contact Bethany, or Lindsey Tomsu (newsletter editor).
• The next NLA board meeting is Wednesday, July 10^th in Kearney; Matt will attend.
• The YART spring meeting is May 18^th in York, from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.  It is $10 and the theme is “Hot Topics in Teen Librarianship.”
• The ALA Conference is in July; Matt and Bethany are attending.
• The NLA Conference is October 9-11, in Kearney.

 Secretary/Treasurer Report (Aimee):

• Matt moved to approve the meeting notes from the January 31^st, 2013meeting.  Lindsey seconded, all approved.
• Bethany  gave the Treasurer’s Report:
  • Current account balance is $371.91
  • Bylaws change was voted on; we will turn out treasurer function over to the NLA Treasurer.

Webmaster Report:

• Scott Childers is the new Webmaster for NLA. 

Old Business:

• Matt has two nominees for the Vice Chair position – Lindsey and Holly, but only one for the Secretary position (Aimee).  The deadline was today (April 30), but will likely be extended.  If you know of anyone who is interested in running, let Matt know. 
• We can reuse Lindsey, Holly, and Aimee’s bios and photos from the last election.

 New Business:

• Fall Conference:
• Our proposed programs for Fall Conference include:
• Speed networking breakfast – a louder device for switching tables was suggested.  Blank business cards will be provided for those making networking connections.
• “What are employers looking for?” – A panel of managers will talk about tips for getting hired.
• NMRT business meeting – will include our awards presentation.
• New grad panel – Kathryn Brockmeier has NLC scholarship students lined to up do this.
• “Read to a dog” – Christine Walsh of Kearney Public Library.
• Lindsey also suggested a “Free & Easy Online Readers Advisory Tools” presentation.
• Kathy Tooker would like us to sponsor a conference “mentors” program for first-time attendees.  We can invite mentors/mentees to the speed-networking breakfast.
• If there is interest in ongoing mentoring relationships, we could send out monthly email activities to encourage interaction.
• We will have a social outing on the Thursday night of Fall Conference.  Old Chicago was suggested.
• We will donate $50 to the Nixon Scholarship fund.
• Awards: Lindsey will be the awards coordinator again this year.
• We will send info about the awards to the Nebraska Libraries newsletter for August.
• A web form will be made available for nominations.
• We’ll vote at the September board meeting.
• Facebook: We need to add more administrators to our page; Beth will make Matt admin to start.  We also need more posts.
• Adding a Goodreads widget to our Facebook page or our blog was suggested to encourage interaction.
• A post asking about NLA attendance was also proposed.
• Meeting attendance: the question was raised as to how to increase meeting attendance.
• Could we meet at a bar?
• Touring a smaller or non-automated library was suggested.  Waverly and Seward were both mentioned.
• The next meeting will be in late August/early September, on a Friday afternoon.

Meeting Adjourned, 4:55 p.m.

Submitted by Aimee Owen

NMRT Meeting Minutes

January 31, 2013

Omaha Public Library, W. Dale Clark Branch, Omaha, NE

Present: Bethany Grabow, Lindsey Bray, Aimee Owen, Karen Pietsch, Matt Kovar, Sarah Haack, Willa Garay, Chrystal Dawson, Jennifer Sorensen, Kendall Beck

Call to Order: Bethany Grabow, 2:12 p.m.

Paraprofessional Section Presentation by Jennifer Sorensen and Chrystal Dawson:

• Jennifer shared how she got involved and the benefits of involvement: networking, a support network, socializing, and experience you can add to your resumé.
• Chrystal spoke to how she got involved, and the importance of paraprofessionals in the library setting.
• The Para Section has a Facebook page and blog.
• The Para Spring meeting will be held on March 31, with several viewing sites, or you can view online from your desk.  Cost is $5 for Para members, and $10 for nonmembers.

Chair Report (Bethany):

• Bethany attended the November 20^th NLA meeting at Sump Memorial Library in Papillion.
• Memberships are down.
• Aimee suggested a “referral bonus” – an extra year of free NMRT membership if you refer a member to NLA.
• ALA Annual Conference is June 27-July 7, 2013, in Chicago.  The NLA and Nebraska Regional Library Systems are sponsoring a charter bus, with a grant from the NLC, leaving June 27 and returning July 2.  The cost for a ride is TBD (probably around $50-$100).  If you are interested, let Bethany know.  There are grants on the NLA website for conference registration.

Secretary/Treasurer Report (Aimee):

• Karen moved to approve the meeting notes from the October 18, 2012 annual meeting.  Willa seconded, all approved.
• Bethany  gave the Treasurer’s Report:
  • Current account balance is $371.91
  • Expenses: Award plaques, candy for NLA NMRT table.
  • Income: None.
  • Past minutes on the NMRT website

Webmaster Report (Karin):  None.

Old Business:

• We need to amend our bylaws to remove the NMRT Treasurer function and use the NLA treasurer.  A poll will go up online in the next few days and run through February.  You must be an active member (have paid 2013 dues) to vote.

New Business:

• Send suggestions for 2013-2014 Vice Chair and Secretary/Treasurer nominees to Matt Kovar.  Elections are in June.
• Spring meeting:
• In the past we have done a tour.
• Bethany suggested we team up with SCYP.  Their meeting theme is “Ebooks & Libraries” and will be held in Blair, in the morning (8:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.).  We can help out with set up and cleanup.
• Sarah asked if we will get part of the proceeds.
• Aimee suggested we add a tour of the Saddlebrook library, since it is a joint facility (school-library-community center) and might be of interest to the SCYP members.
• Possible dates are April 13 or April 27.

Meeting Adjourned, 2:55 p.m.

Submitted by Aimee Owen

NMRT Meeting Minutes
October 18, 2012

Annual Business Meeting
Embassy Suites, LaVista, NE

Present: Bethany Grabow, Lindsey Bray, Aimee Owen, Anneka Ramirez, Karin Dalziel, Libby Munsell, Jessica Swift, Karen Pietsch, Kristine Woods, Michael Straatmann, Christine Walsh, David Mixdorf, Odessa Meyer, Matt Kovar, Jeri Kay Hopkins, Kim Rothgeb, Monica Tidyman, Dorothy Schultz

Call to Order: Sarah Haack, 4:00 p.m.

Awards Presentation:

• David Mixdorf (Director of the Sioux City Public Library) was presented with the Mentor of the Year award.
• Odessa Meyer (Sioux City Public Library) was presented with the Beginning Professional of the Year award.
• Sarah Haack announced the winners and Damon Osborne from Houchen Bindery was on hand as the awards’ sponsors.
• Sarah thanked Lindsey Bray for coordinating the Houchen Bindery awards again this year.

Chair Report (Sarah):

• Sarah passed out the Annual Report; NMRT tried to increase social opportunities this past year and moved meeting locations around to balance members’ travel times.
• Officer transition:
• Outgoing officers Bethany Grabow (Chair Elect) and Holli Duggan (Secretary/Treasurer) were thanked for their efforts.
  o Incoming officers Bethany Grabow (Chair), Matt Kovar (Chair Elect) and Aimee Owen (Secretary/Treasurer) were introduced.
  o Bethany thanked Sarah for her work as Chair of NMRT.

Secretary/Treasurer Report (Bethany):

• Current account balance is $451.28
• Expenses: NMRT ribbons for conference nametags, donation for the Nixon scholarship, and cost of NLA membership raffled off at UNO/MU classroom visit.
• Income: NLA allocation.
• Past minutes on the NMRT website

Webmaster Report (Karin):

• All NLA sites are transitioning to WordPress. NMRT already uses WordPress, so it will be an easy move; Karin will backup and transition the NMRT site.
• If you need login information to post to the NMRT site, email Karin.

Old Business:

• We need to amend our bylaws to remove the NMRT Treasurer function and use the NLA treasurer. Changes to the bylaws require a vote; we will vote via email after the start of the calendar year to ensure quorum.

New Business:

• We will continue vary the locations for upcoming meeting.
• Please “like” NMRT on Facebook.

Next meeting – TBA.

Meeting Adjourned, 4:16 p.m.

Submitted by Aimee Owen

NMRT Meeting

September 8, 2012

1:00 p.m.

Kearney Public Library

Chair Report

• The next NLA board meeting is September 21 in Nebraska City

read more…

NMRT Meeting Minutes

April 20, 2012

Spring Meeting

Houchen Bindery

read more…

NMRT Meeting Minutes

January 5, 2011

3:00 p.m.

University of Nebraska, Love Library, Room 318C

read more…

NMRT Meeting

October 7, 2011

10:00 a.m.

The Cornhusker-Marriott Hotel- NLA/NEMA Annual Conference

Present: Ted Naylor, Judith Wolfe, Aimee Owen, Karin Dalziel, Sarah Haack, Matthew Kovar, Christine Walsh, Holli Beckmann, Annette Parde, Karen Pietsch, Lindsey Bray, Bethany Grabow

Call to Order: Ted Naylor

Houchen Awards

• Mentor of the Year awarded to Rita Horst
• Beginning Professional of the Year awarded to Jake Rundle

Chair Report

• Ted thanked Sarah and Bethany for their work as new chair and vice-chair
• Announced new officers: Chair-Sarah Haack, Vice-Chair-Bethany Grabow, Secretary/Treasurer- Holli Beckmann

Secretary/Treasurer Report

• Our current bank balance is $458.01
• Upcoming bills- award plaques, reimburse Bethany for candy and gift card for NLA conference, $25 donation to Paraprofessionals section

Webmaster Report

• No new business

Old Business

• Bylaw changes- Ted passed out proposed bylaw changes.  We will vote on these changes at the next NMRT meeting.

New Business:

• Sarah would like to have us visit the UNO/Missouri library students
• We discussed having more social outings at restaurants or other venues
• Judith suggested a tour of Houchen Bindery
• Bethany suggested having an email resume review program and a mentoring program
• Ted brought up the Q&A we started earlier this year.  Karin will look into a different format than email.

Next meeting:  TBA

Meeting Adjourned

NMRT Meeting

September 15, 2011

2:00 p.m.

University of Nebraska, Love Library, room 318C

Present: Bethany Grabow, Karin Dalziel, Emily Nimsakont, Lindsey Bray, Anna Wilcoxon, Sarah Haack, Aimee Owen, Guest: Christy Liddy

Absent:  Judith Wolfe, Ted Naylor

Call to Order: Sarah Haack

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NMRT Meeting- Spring Meeting

July 19, 2011

2:00 p.m.

University of Nebraska, Love Library, room 318C

Present: Bethany Grabow, Ted Naylor, Karin Dalziel, Emily Nimsakont, Lindsey Bray, Anna Wilcoxon, Sarah Haack, Michael Straatmann,

Absent:  Judith Wolfe, Aimee Owen

Call to Order: Ted Naylor

read more…